1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a detecting apparatus and, more specifically, to an apparatus for detecting the stability of a tooth in the gum or an implant in the body.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,292, entitled “Method of detecting periodontal disease by detecting the natural frequency of a tooth”, issued to the present inventors, teaches a method for detecting the stability of a tooth or an implant such as an artificial tooth. The method involves attaching a vibration detector, e.g. an acceleration gauge or a microphone, to the tooth, causing the tooth to vibrate by means of striking the tooth with a hammer, and then picking up signals corresponding to the vibration of the tooth for processing by a dynamic signal analyzer and a microprocessor using Fourier analysis. The location of the natural frequency of the tooth is determined based on the lowest point in the image mode and the point of contraflexure in the real mode. This method still cannot eliminate human errors because it is to vibrate the tooth or the like in question by striking it manually with an object, for example, a hammer or the like, and detecting vibrations of the tooth induced by impact of the object with the tooth.